Professional Development Award

“As part of my Clinical Health Informatics Program I had to do a capstone project. My advisor suggested I pick a project that was relevant to the work I do as a nurse in the CTRC. From the types of research studies we were doing and the fact that we double document, I wondered if a flowsheet could be added to our EHR to document multiple timed blood draws. I worked with the Epic team at UNC and they were able to locate a Research Blood Draw Flowsheet in the Epic library and make it go live for my research unit. My project consisted of timing my nurse co-workers when charting on our usual paper flowsheets as well as in the electronic flowsheet. In my research I learned cultural things about my unit. I presented my findings in a poster at the International Association of Clinical Research Nurses’ annual conference in Philadelphia October 2019. I met lots of people who were interested in the electronic flowsheet and the fact that it is readily available in a commercial EHR system. Many people I spoke with discussed implementing Epic at their healthcare systems and what research specific interfaces would work for their centers. My poster took first place in the competition. I am thankful to the NRP for awarding me a scholarship to attend this conference and sharing what I learned about my research unit while also trying to reduce double charting.

— Perri Kilcourse, RN, BSN, MSc, 2019 NRP Professional Development Award Recipient